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l^orilr  |Dcace  jfouniialion 

•Pamphlet  Series 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND 
WORLD  PEACE 

ADDRESS  AT  PORTLAND,  MAINE 
OCTOBER  10,  1912 

BY 

SAMUEL  B.  CAPEN 

President  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 


Published  Quarterly  by  the 

WORLD  PEACE  FOUNDATION 

40  MT.  VERNON  STREET,  BOSTON 
October,  1912,  No.  7,  Part  III 

Entered  as  second-class  matter  April  18, 1911,  at  the  post-office  at  Boston,  Mass., 

under  the  Act  of  July  16, 1894 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/foreignmissionswOOcape 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD 

PEACE. 

By  Samuel  B.  Capen. 

In  the  thirteen  years  since  you  called  me  to  be  your  president 
we  have  considered  together  many  phases  of  the  foreign  missionary 
problem,  especially  with  reference  to  the  home  base.  I  come  to 
you  to-day  with  an  entirely  different  question,  but  one  which  is 
very  much  upon  my  heart  and  which  seems  to  be  more  timely  now 
than  ever  before,  the  question  of  “  Missions  and  World  Peace.” 
I  bring  this  matter  before  the  Board  at  this  time  because  the  work 
of  all  missionaries  is  being  hindered  by  the  preparations  that  the 
Christian  nations  are  making  for  possible  future  wars  between  them¬ 
selves,  and  their  readiness  to  strike  a  weaker  and  a  non-Christian 
nation.  This  is  of  especial  importance  to  the  American  Board, 
for  more  than  one-half  of  our  missionaries  are  in  the  war  zone,  203 
in  Turkey,  and  126  in  China.* 

CHRISTIAN  AGGRESSION  AGAINST  THE  EAST. 

Many  heard  Mr.  Shuster,  when  he  returned  last  spring  from  Persia, 
tell  of  his  personal  experiences  and  of  the  conflict  in  that  unhappy 
country.  Mr.  Shuster  called  special  attention  to  the  fact  that  all 
three  of  the  cases  of  spoliation  and  tyranny  which  have  shocked 
the  conscience  of  the  world  in  these  recent  months  have  been  cases 
of  the  aggression  of  so-called  Christian  nations  upon  Mohammedan 
peoples. 

These  addresses  of  Mr.  Shuster  were  emphasized  by  an  article 
which  appeared  in  the  Japan  Advertiser  in  Tokyo,  from  which  I 
quote : — 

The  first  act  in  the  Persian  tragedy  is  that  the  Persian  people  are  guilty  of  the 
unpardonable  crime  of  possessing  a  magnificent  country  with  magnificent  resources; 
and  this  crime  constitutes  the  crime  of  crimes  which  Christian  Europe,  armed  to  the 

*  II I  had  had  any  misgivings  about  the  timeliness  of  this  subject,  it  would  have  been  dispelled  by 
the  addresses  yesterday  and  to-day  from  the  missionaries  from  China,  Japan  and  Turkey.  In  the 
case  of  the  latter  country  the  people  believe  that  the  attack  of  Italy  is  more  than  a  war  of  one  people 
upon  another,  even  an  attack  of  Christianity  upon  their  religion. 


4 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


teeth,  can  neither  condone  nor  overlook.  From  the  danger  signals  that  are  already 
flashing  forth  it  is  easy  to  foresee  that  the  victory  of  Russia  and  England  over 
Persia  will  not  only  mean  the  subjugation  of  a  practically  unarmed  nation  by  two 
fully  armed  powers,  but  the  present  triumph,  if  it  does  come,  will  surely  contain  an 
aftermath,  which  will  have  to  be  reaped  by  the  victors.  The  world  is  accustomed 
to  associate  Russia  with  a  merciless  and  despotic  barbarism.  The  case  will,  how¬ 
ever,  be  different  for  England,  one  of  the  two  makers  of  the  Persian  tragedy. 
British  prestige  must  undoubtedly  come  out  of  this  transaction  heavily  besmirched; 
and  in  the  backbone  of  England’s  empire,  India,  British  justice  must  come  to  be 
looked  upon  askance  and  British  reputation  must  suffer  as  it  has  never  suffered 
yet.  It  is  well  also  that  missionaries  and  supporters  of  Christian  missions  to  the 
“heathen”  should  know  that  the  Oriental  mind  now  defines  Christianity  as  battle¬ 
ships,  cannons  and  rifles  devised  and  constructed  for  the  plunder  of  the  earth,  and 
that  the  bleeding  figure  on  the  cross  which  missionaries  hold  up  to  the  view  of 
non-Christian  peoples  gets  blurred  out  of  their  sight,  for  on  their  horizon  looms 
largely  the  figure  of  the  armed  robber  with  cannon  and  rifles  leveled  threatening 
“your  country  or  your  life.” 

Then  there  has  been  the  attack  of  Italy  upon  Turkey,  which  has 
aroused  the  conscience  of  the  civilized  world.  Turkey  said  in  sub* 
stance,  “We  will  submit  Italy’s  grievance  to  any  tribunal  that  nation 
cares  to  name  and  abide  by  the  results.”  This  Italy  refused,  and 
practically  asked  to  have  Tripoli  handed  over  in  twenty-four  hours. 
We  can  well  appreciate  the  evil  results  which  come  to  all  our  mis¬ 
sionary  work  from  such  events  as  these.  The  missionary  is  put 
upon  the  defensive  to  explain  why  so-called  Christian  nations  should 
be  guilty  of  such  high-handed  proceedings. 

The  eyes  of  the  world  are  upon  the  new  Republic  of  China;  but 
how  have  the  Christian  nations  in  the  past  treated  that  old  Empire? 
In  1840  she  destroyed  some  chests  of  opium,  and  then  England 
compelled  the  Chinese,  against  every  principle  of  justice,  to  admit 
opium  into  all  her  ports.  In  1896  Russia  compelled  Japan  to  give 
up  Port  Arthur,  and  subsequently  took  it  herself.  In  1897  two 
German  Catholic  priests  were  killed  in  a  riot  in  the  Shantung  province. 
Out  went  the  German  fleet  and  took  Kiao-chau  Harbor,  a  large  sec¬ 
tion  of  country,  the  right  to  develop  all  mines  and  railways  in  that 
province,  and  a  large  indemnity  besides.  Soon  after  this  England 
stepped  in  and  helped  herself  to  Wei-hai-wei.  She  had  already 
taken  Hongkong  as  an  indemnity  after  one  of  her  opium  wars.  F ranee 
moved  up  from  Annam;  and  so  it  has  gone  on  until  China,  with  a 
coast  line  as  long  as  from  Eastport,  Maine,  to  the  Panama  Canal, 
has  hardly  a  harbor  left. 

Then,  in  1900,  after  the  noted  Boxer  uprising,  an  indemnity  of 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


5 


$333,9°o,oo°  was  imposed.  The  payment  was  to  be  distributed 
over  thirty-nine  years,  and  the  total  sum  payable  was  $728,820,704. 
That  is  China’s  experience  with  Christian  nations!  In  Tung-chou 
alone,  a  city  where  the  Chinese  made  no  resistance  against  the  allied 
armies  and  where  there  was  no  fighting,  573  Chinese  women  of  the 
upper  class  committed  suicide  rather  than  live  after  the  indignities 
they  had  suffered  from  the  soldiers  of  Christian  nations!  An  old 
Chinese  missionary  at  Silver  Bay  last  summer  called  our  attention 
to  the  fact  that  there  are  100,000,000  children  in  China  needing 
to  be  educated,  and  the  resources  of  the  new  Republic  should  be 
used  for  this  important  work.  They  greatly  need  a  common  educa¬ 
tion  that  will  bind  all  classes  in  the  Republic  together  and  make 
it  one  united  nation.  Yet,  yet,  under  the  influence  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  nations,  she  is  using  her  resources  for  developing  a  great  army 
and  navy  to  defend  herself  against  the  said  Christian  nations.  Europe 
especially  ought  to  hold  down  its  head  in  shame  at  the  sad  results 
of  its  bad  influence.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  all  of  the  Western  nations 
seem  to  many  of  the  Chinese  to  be  still  “ barbarians”  because  of 
their  fighting?  In  the  light  of  all  this  can  we  wonder  that  the  Na¬ 
tional  Review  of  China  a  few  months  ago  should  say  that  “Persia 
has  been  bullied  almost  to  death,  and  Russian  intriguers  have  sup¬ 
ported  her  ex-Shah’s  attempt  at  a  counter-revolution;  that  Morocco 
has  been  the  cockpit  of  Europe  for  the  past  few  months;  that  Turkey 
is  now  being  driven  at  the  point  of  the  sword  to  commit  national 
hara-kiri;  that  China  is  alternately  clubbed  on  the  head  and  stroked 
on  the  back  by  her  dear  friends  in  the  north  or  across  the  water, 
with  the  Powers  of  Europe  observing  a  cynical  neutrality”?  We 
rejoice  to  add  to  the  credit  of  the  United  States  that  our  relations 
with  China  from  the  days  of  Anson  Burlingame  have  been  almost 
without  reproach,  except  for  certain  features  of  our  exclusion  laws. 
The  Chinese  recognize  this,  and  it  gives  the  American  missionary 
the  greatest  opportunity  that  has  ever  come  or  that  can  ever  come 
to  this  great  nation  which  contains  one-fourth  of  the  human  race. 

THE  ECONOMIC  AND  MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE 

PEACE  MOVEMENT. 

In  this  world  movement  of  what  has  been  called  “War  against 
War”  we  see  a  great  effort  to  prevent  a  further  sapping  of  the  life 
of  the  nations,  and  of  directly  and  indirectly  crippling  their  ability 


6 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


to  exercise  their  largest  influence  for  humanity.  Success  in  this  effort 
would  remove  a  great  obstacle  to  missionary  success.  There  is  an 
economic  as  well  as  a  moral  aspect  to  this  problem. 

First.  Take  the  material ,  or  economic ,  side.  It  is  a  sad  fact  that 
67  per  cent,  of  the  expenses  of  our  Government  are  being  expended 
either  because  of  past  wars  or  in  preparation  for  possible  future  wars. 
It  has  been  well  illustrated  by  a  man  having  an  income  of  $1,000 
a  year  who  is  spending  $670  to  pay  for  the  expenses  of  former  fights 
or  in  preparation  for  new  ones,  and  is  leaving  himself  only  $330  for 
house  rent,  food,  clothing,  fuel,  education  of  his  children,  etc.  Last 
year  the  figures  show  that  the  United  States  spent  on  preparations  for 
future  war  a  per  capita  of  about  $3.33.  Of  this  total  sum  we  Congre- 
gationalists,  therefore,  have  had  to  pay  over  $2,250,000,  or  three  times 
as  much  as  we  have  given  for  foreign  missions.  The  condition  across 
the  sea  of  course  is  worse  than  it  is  with  us.  The  annual  German 
expenditure  is  $731,000,000,  and  of  this  $318,000,000  is  spent  for  war 
expenses  in  one  way  or  another.  It  is  stated  that  every  farmer  in 
Germany  is  burdened  with  the  equivalent  of  the  maintenance  of  six 
non-producing  men  in  arms.  Four  million  men  are  under  arms  in 
Europe  at  an  annual  expense  of  $1,682,000,000,  thus  absorbing  the 
life  of  these  nations.  If  these  conditions  can  be  changed,  and  the 
fear  of  war  removed  by  arbitration  agreements,  not  only  will  the 
bulk  of  this  immense  sum  be  saved,  but  these  men  themselves  could 
be  returned  to  the  ranks  of  peaceful  citizens,  and  perhaps  be  able  to 
earn  as  much  besides.  We  need  courts  of  arbitration  and  a  world 
peace  to  save  the  nations  in  the  social  revolution  that  is  going  on. 
The  world  is  full  of  labor  strikes,  and  men  ask  for  larger  wages  be¬ 
cause  of  the  increased  cost  of  living.  With  total  debts  of  about 
$27,000,000,000  and  an  annual  interest  charge  of  nearly  $1,000, 000, 000, 
the  nations  of  Europe  are  running  into  universal  bankruptcy.  All 
the  nations  of  the  earth  are  so  closely  interwoven  that  a  disaster  to 
Europe  would  be  a  tremendous  blow  to  us,  followed  by  a  panic  and 
disaster  which  would  seriously  impair  all  missionary  enterprise. 
Not  only  that,  but  in  order  to  keep  up  in  the  race  our  Government 
is  increasing  its  battleships  at  an  enormous  cost.  The  Massachu¬ 
setts  commission  on  the  high  cost  of  living  properly  included  mili¬ 
tarism,  and  the  waste  and  expense  which  is  the  natural  result,  as 
one  of  the  chief  causes.  A  modern  battleship  at  a  cost  of  $12,000,000 
amounts  to  more  than  the  income  of  the  American  Board  for  a  decade, 
and  the  annual  expense  of  running  it  is  equal  to  our  total  yearly 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


7 


income.  All  this  expense  is  a  hindrance  to  the  whole  moral  influence 
of  our  nation  to  the  people  on  the  mission  field.  The  return  by  our 
Government  of  one-half  of  the  Chinese  indemnity  and  its  use  by 
China  to  educate  students  here  in  our  colleges  is  worth  more  to  bind 
China  to  us  and  make  for  universal  peace  than  the  presence  of  half 
a  dozen  battleships.  It  is  well  also  to  remember  that,  if  President 
McKinley  could  have  had  his  way,  he  would  have  preferred  to  go 
without  any  cash  payment  from  China.  His  view,  which  he  sought 
to  impress  upon  others,  was  that  a  Chinese  nation  capable  of  doing 
business  with  the  Western  world  was  a  far  better  guaranty  of  peace 
and  progress  than  any  sum  which  might  be  extorted  from  China 
as  an  indemnity  for  the  Boxer  outrage,  and  which  bound  her  prac¬ 
tically  to  international  financial  control. 

Second.  But  this  is  more  than  an  economic  question:  it  has  to  do 
with  morals  and  religion.  Need  I  remind  you  that  our  Civil  War 
cost  this  nation,  including  both  North  and  South,  about  a  million 
of  men,  and  that  the  wars  of  Napoleon  cost  Europe  three  millions  of 
men?  The  effect  of  this  on  Europe  was  that  the  nations  have  been 
repopulated  in  part  by  those  who  are  physically  weaker,  for  the  best 
went  into  the  army  and  had  no  offspring.  It  is  said  that  the  wars 
of  Europe  have  reduced  the  stature  of  the  French  nation  nearly  two 
inches.  We  are  no  longer  having  the  “  survival  of  the  fittest,  but  the 
survival  of  the  unfittest.”  If  that  has  been  the  effect  of  past  wars, 
we  note  also  the  hates  and  the  unholy  ambitions  that  are  now  being 
fostered  by  the  war  camps  of  the  world  in  keeping  up  an  armed 
peace.  In  the  light  of  all  this  we  see  how  great  the  injury  is  to  all 
our  moral,  religious  and  missionary  interests. 

OUR  ALLIES. 

In  this  effort  for  universal  peace  and  the  recognition  of  a  brother¬ 
hood  as  wide  as  the  world,  our  missionary  interests  will  have  many 
strong  allies. 

First.  We  have  the  great  commercial  interests  of  the  world.  It 
is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  recent  arbitration  treaties  of  Presi¬ 
dent  Taft  were  indorsed  by  about  200  boards  of  trade  and  chambers 
of  commerce  in  cities  containing  20,000,000  people.  To  show  the 
world- wide  interest  of  the  business  men  in  this  great  subject,  at 
the  Fifth  International  Congress  of  Chambers  of  Commerce  held 
last  month  in  Boston,  the  question  of  arbitration  was  given  large 


8 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


place  by  the  foreign  and  American  delegates  alike  as  the  most  impor¬ 
tant  question  for  them  to  consider.  They  recognized  that  all  business 
and  financial  interests  are  thrown  into  chaos  by  anything  that  in¬ 
terrupts  the  peace  of  the  world.  This  Congress  was  the  most  impor¬ 
tant  meeting  of  business  men  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  was 
therefore  a  great  moment  when,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Presi¬ 
dent  of  the  Congress,  M.  Canon-Legrand,  a  resolution  which  he  had 
drawn  covering  the  whole  field  of  international  arbitration  was 
passed  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  On  the  impulse  of  the  moment 
the  members  of  the  Congress  sprang  to  their  feet,  some  stood  on 
the  chairs  and  waved  their  hats.  It  was  a  great  message  of  the 
commercial  leaders  of  forty-five  nations  to  the  governments  of  the 
whole  world.  Few  scenes  more  significant  in  human  history  have 
ever  been  witnessed. 

Second.  We  have  with  us  the  great  labor  interests ,  for  they  recog¬ 
nize  that  in  the  case  of  war  they  would  suffer  the  most  because  of  the 
interference  of  business,  the  lack  of  work  and  the  general  unrest 
which  is  created.  It  is  believed  that  the  peace  of  Europe  for  the  past 
thirty  years  has  been  due  to  the  working  classes  of  Europe  more  than 
to  any  other  single  cause. 

Third.  It  is  of  special  interest  to  know  how  the  men  of  the  Grand 
Army  respond  to  this  movement.  I  have  rarely  had  a  more  inter¬ 
ested  audience  than  on  last  Memorial  Day,  when  I  delivered  an 
address  upon  this  subject  before  one  of  the  posts  of  the  Grand  Army. 
These  men  recognize  the  truth  of  what  General  Sherman  said,  that 
“war  is  hell,”  and  they  do  not  wish  others  to  endure  what  they 
had  to  suffer.  Gallant  General  Sheridan  has  left  his  record  also, 
that  the  world  would  settle  its  differences  by  arbitration.  At  the 
Mohonk  Conference  on  International  Arbitration,  last  May,  in 
some  respects  the  most  effective  address  was  made  by  Admiral  Chad¬ 
wick,  commander  of  the  flagship  in  the  battle  of  Santiago. 

Fourth.  We  have  a  great  propaganda  going  on  in  our  schools  and 
colleges  and  universities ,  and  young  people  everywhere  are  beginning 
to  recognize  that  it  is  more  honorable  for  a  nation  to  be  great  in 
peace  than  in  war.  A  university  is  a  far  more  glorious  sight  than  a 
Dreadnought ,  and  it  will  not  be  in  the  scrap-heap  in  twenty-five  years. 

Fifth.  We  also  have  with  us  not  only  the  great  peace  societies  of 
the  world  and  all  the  influences  which  grow  out  of  the  Mohonk  con¬ 
ference,  the  Carnegie  Endowment  for  International  Peace,  and  the 
World  Peace  Foundation,  but  we  have  the  good  will  and  oneness 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


9 


which  is  growing  up  among  the  students  of  the  world  through  the 
World  Student  Christian  Federation  and  through  the  International 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Associations.  Finally,  one  of  the  greatest 
in  its  power  for  good  is  the  mighty  work  that  is  going  on  through 
world-wide  Christian  Endeavor.  Here  are  79,000  societies  in  a  hun¬ 
dred  denominations  in  practically  every  nation,  with  a  membership 
of  about  4,000,000  members.*  Dr.  Clark  has  shown  anew  his  wonder¬ 
ful  statesmanship  in  making,  as  a  part  of  the  work  of  this  mighty 
movement,  peace  among  the  nations.  Young  people  thus  bound 
together  all  over  the  world  are  not  easily  going  to  fight  one  another 
to  satisfy  the  wicked  ambitions  of  their  grasping  rulers.  It  is  stated 
that  there  has  never  been  a  movement  which  has  made  such  rapid 
progress  and  taken  hold  of  all  classes  in  society  in  so  brief  a  time  as 
the  movement  to  end  war  between  nations  and  to  substitute  in  its 
place  universal  arbitration  treaties  and  a  permanent  Court  of  Arbi¬ 
tral  Justice. 

OUR  ANTAGONISTS. 

It  is  well  for  the  missionary  leaders  not  only  to  know  their  allies, 
but  their  chief  antagonists,  in  this  struggle  for  world  peace.  At  the 
Conservation  Congress  in  Carnegie  Hall  last  April  some  of  us  heard 
Dr.  J.  A.  Macdonald,  of  Toronto,  speak  in  the  place  of  W.  T.  Stead, 
who  went  down  in  the  “ Titanic”  while  on  the  way  to  this  country 
to  speak  on  world-wide  peace.  Dr.  Macdonald  had  recently  had  in 
London  an  interview  with  Mr.  Stead,  extending  late  into  the  night, 
in  which  they  discussed  what  they  could  do  to  break  the  power  of 
the  leagues  in  every  nation  that  exist  to  keep  up  the  war  spirit.  These 
leagues  directly  and  indirectly  are  the  greatest  enemies  to  progress. 
They  grow  more  bitter  as  they  see  the  rapid  advance  of  the  peace 
movement.  There  are  navy  leagues  in  this  country  and  in  Great 
Britain,  Germany  and  France,  and  these  leagues  play  one  nation 
against  another.  The  picture  of  every  warship  built  is  published 
in  other  nations,  and  they  are  urged  to  build  more  and  larger  battle¬ 
ships,  and  so  the  waste  goes  on.  In  the  French  Assembly  and  else- 

*  At  the  European  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  held  this  summer  at  Christiania  the  subject 
of  peace  had  a  prominent  part  in  the  program,  and  the  chief  speaker  was  Dr.  Raynvald  Moe,  the  secre¬ 
tary  of  the  Nobel  Institute.  There  were  nearly  1,000  delegates  present  from  Great  Britain,  Germany, 
France,  Spain, Finland,  Hungary,  Switzerland  and  other  lands;  and  the  convention  passed  the  follow¬ 
ing  splendid  resolution: — ■ 

“The  European  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in  Christiania,  1912,  requests  all  the  National 
Christian  Endeavor  Unions  to  present  a  petition  to  their  respective  governments  and  parliaments  that 
the  movement  for  arbitration  in  all  conflicts  between  the  nations,  and  mediation  in  all  controversies 
at  home,  be  promoted  more  energetically  than  ever,  so  that  the  Prince  of  Peace,  Jesus  Christ,  may 
reign  over  the  nations,  and  the  growth  of  His  kingdom  be  furthered  among  all  men.” 


IO 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


where  the  increase  of  our  navy  is  given  as  a  reason  why  other  nations 
should  increase  theirs.  We  build  more  and  they  build  more.  They 
build  more  and  we  build  more.  An  army  leader  has  recently  pro¬ 
claimed  publicly  that  war  is  the  opportunity  and  duty  of  a  great 
nation,  and  many  newspapers  gloat  over  the  weaknesses  of  rivals, 
and  write  insulting  articles  to  arouse  the  passions  and  keep  alive  the 
war  spirit.  It  is  always  interesting  to  notice  every  time  a  naval 
appropriation  bill  is  to  come  before  Congress  it  is  preceded  by  a  war 
scare,  usually  with  Japan.  This  noisy  and  frightened  discussion 
has  been  well  called  by  President  Butler  of  Columbia  University 
“ profitable  patriotism”:  we  might  call  it  “ pulmonary  patriotism”! 
It  is  said  that  in  Great  Britain  one  man  in  every  five  is  interested 
directly  or  indirectly  in  the  preparations  for  war  either  for  the  army 
or  navy!  No  wonder  the  war  scare  is  kept  up  by  selfish  interests, 
and  the  forces  that  make  for  righteousness  will  always  have  to  fight 
the  interests  that  make  money  out  of  human  hate  and  strife. 

Another  foe  is  the  “jingo”  injiuence  of  minorities  represented  in  the 
“ yellow  press.”  The  German  chancellor  said  in  the  Reichstag  a 
few  months  ago  that  “wars  are  not  planned  and  brought  about 
in  these  days  by  governments,  but  noisy  and  fanatical  minorities 
drive  nations  into  war.”  The  United  States  was  driven  into  an 
unnecessary  war  with  Spain  in  1898  largely  through  the  power  of 
the  “yellow  press.”  Let  me  quote  a  few  words  from  Mr.  Root: 
“There  are  no  international  controversies  so  serious  that  they  cannot 
be  settled  peaceably  if  both  parties  really  desire  settlement;  while 
there  are  few  causes  of  dispute  so  trifling  that  they  cannot  be  made 
the  occasion  of  war  if  either  party  really  desires  war.  The  matters 
in  dispute  between  nations  are  nothing:  the  spirit  which  deals  with 
them  is  everything.”  In  1915  we  shall  have  lived  a  hundred  years 
in  peace  with  Great  Britain,  yet  John  W.  Foster  has  pointed  out  that 
there  have  been  eight  differences  with  England  each  of  which  might 
have  brought  on  war,  had  the  spirit  of  war  been  the  controlling  thought. 
With  the  speedy  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal  the  Pacific  Ocean 
will  become  the  center  of  the  world’s  strategy.  If  there  is  to  be 
a  storm  center  anywhere,  it  will  be  there.  The  swift-going  steam¬ 
ship  and  the  cable  have  brought  the  East  and  the  West  together, 
so  that  the  Pacific  has  become  nothing  but  a  ferry.  We  must  treat 
as  brothers  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  nations.  Missionary  progress 
must  not  be  hindered  by  wicked  attacks  and  by  war  scares  of  the 
“yellow  press.” 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


II 


THE  DEBT  OF  DIPLOMACY  TO  THE  MISSIONARY. 

It  is  possible  in  the  limits  of  this  address  to  give  but  a  few  illus¬ 
trations  on  this  important  subject.  In  the  volume  entitled  “American 
Diplomacy  in  the  Orient,”  by  Hon.  John  W.  Foster,  there  is  this 
forceful  sentence:  “Up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  Christian 
missionaries  were  an  absolute  necessity  to  diplomatic  intercourse.” 
Certainly,  no  diplomat  of  our  day  has  had  so  wide  an  experience  or 
has  the  right  to  speak  with  so  much  authority.  This  statement  is  cor¬ 
roborated  by  the  Hon.  William  B.  Reed,  a  former  United  States 
minister  to  China,  who  says,  “I  could  not  have  advanced  one  step 
in  the  discharge  of  my  duties,  could  not  have  read,  or  written,  or 
understood  one  word  of  correspondence  on  treaty  stipulations,  but 
for  the  missionaries.” 

To  begin  with,  we  owe  to  missionary  philologists  nearly  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dictionaries,  including  Judson’s  and  Stevens’  for  the  Bur¬ 
mese,  Morrison’s  and  S.  Wells  Williams’  for  the  Chinese,  and  Hep¬ 
burn’s  for  the  Japanese.  These  are  the  basis  of  language  and,  of 
course,  of  all  intelligent  intercourse  between  the  East  and  the  West. 

Dr.  Peter  Parker  and  Rev.  E.  C.  Bridgman,  missionaries  to  China, 
were  made  the  Chinese  secretaries  of  the  Caleb  Cushing  embassy 
in  1844.  Dr.  Parker  twice  served  as  charge  d'affaires  in  China  and 
as  a  commissioner  to  negotiate  with  the  Chinese  Government  in  1856. 
Rev.  Dr.  S.  Wells  Williams  was  interpreter  to  Commodore  Perry 
in  his  first  visit  to  Japan  in  1853  and  afterward  was  secretary  of 
legation  in  China. 

W.  A.  P.  Martin  translated  into  Chinese  Wheaton’s  “Elements  of 
International  Law,”  encouraged  in  this  by  our  early  great  minister  to 
China,  Anson  Burlingame,  and  Sir  Frederick  Bruce,  the  British  min¬ 
ister.  Dr.  Martin  also  had  translated  Woolsey’s  “Elements  of 
International  Law”  and  two  or  three  other  similar  works.  Most 
of  these  were  reprinted  in  Japanese,  and  have  had  large  influence 
in  shaping  the  international  policy  of  two  empires.  They  showed 
the  public  men  that  something  besides  force  was  recognized  among 
Western  nations  in  their  dealings  with  one  another. 

Then  there  was  the  great  work  of  the  Hon.  Chester  Holcomb,  a 
former  missionary  of  the  Board,  who  served  as  secretary  of  legation 
in  China  for  many  years,  and  who  was  a  master  of  the  Chinese  lan¬ 
guage.  Some  of  us  have  heard  him  tell  of  his  work  on  treaties, 
every  letter  written  with  his  own  hand. 


12 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


Dr.  H.  N.  Allen  by  helping  a  wounded  Korean  prince  helped  to 
open  Korea  to  the  missionaries,  and  then  he  himself  was  appointed 
American  minister  to  Korea  by  two  Presidents. 

Both  China  and  Japan  recognize  the  greatness  of  the  service  of 
the  missionaries,  in  whom  they  have  had  perfect  confidence.  As 
evidence  of  this,  the  Japan  Mail  has  said,  “No  single  person  has 
done  as  much  as  the  missionary  to  bring  foreigners  and  Japanese 
into  close  intercourse.” 

Sir  Charles  Warren,  governor  of  Natal,  has  said:  “For  the  preser¬ 
vation  of  peace  between  the  colonists  and  the  natives,  one  mission¬ 
ary  is  worth  a  battalion  of  soldiers.” 

When  we  think  of  this  subject,  one  of  the  first  names  that  comes 
to  our  mind  is  that  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  H.  DeForest,  one  of  our  great 
missionaries  to  Japan,  who  has  left  us  so  recently.  He  not  only  had 
the  entire  confidence  of  the  Japanese  officials,  who  honored  him 
in  many  ways,  but  he  had  also  the  confidence  of  the  diplomats  of 
the  Western  nations.  He  did  great  service  only  a  little  while  before 
he  died  in  his  defense  of  Japan  against  the  attacks  of  the  “yellow 
press”  and  of  others, — a  service  which  did  much  in  a  critical  hour 
toward  making  public  sentiment  in  the  right  direction.  The  great 
service  which  he  rendered  in  promoting  peace  between  the  nations 
was  recognized  by  the  American  Peace  Society,  which  made  him 
one  of  its  vice  presidents,  and  by  the  emperor  of  Japan,  by  whom  he 
was  decorated. 

May  I  repeat  again  the  incident  which  some  of  you  may  have  heard 
me  mention  before,  but  which  is  so  perfect  an  illustration  of  this 
subject  that  I  venture  to  repeat  it  here?  Nearly  four  years  ago 
about  fifty  gentlemen  were  invited  to  meet  together  at  a  home  in 
New  York  City  to  pay  their  tribute  of  regard  to  a  gentleman  who 
had  once  represented  our  nation  officially  in  one  of  the  great  capitals 
of  the  Old  World,  and  who  was  going  out  again  to  represent  our  Gov¬ 
ernment  in  a  position  of  high  trust.  After  several  gentlemen  had 
commended  him  for  the  good  work  he  had  been  able  to  do  in  the 
past,  he  told  them  the  secret  of  his  power  and  influence  in  diplomatic 
matters.  He  had  been  often  invited  to  meet  with  the  ambassadors 
of  the  great  Powers  to  discuss  great  international  questions.  When 
very  complicated  matters  arose,  he  always  asked  for  a  week’s  time 
to  consider  them,  and  it  wras  always  granted.  During  the  week 
he  went  over  the  situation  confidentially  with  three  men  living  in 
this  capital,  and,  after  obtaining  their  opinion,  he  went  back  to  the 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


13 


conference,  and  gave  his  judgment,  which  was  always  accepted.  Two 
years  ago  at  the  World’s  Missionary  Conference  in  Edinburgh  I 
met  a  gentleman  at  a  social  gathering,  and  alluded  to  this  incident. 
To  my  surprise  he  replied,  “The  British  ambassador  was  in  the  habit 
of  consulting  these  same  three  men.”  The  gentleman  was  quite 
familiar  with  the  facts,  for  he  was  also  a  representative  of  the  British 
Government  in  an  official  position.  The  interesting  part  of  this 
incident  is  that  the  three  men  who  were  thus  consulted  by  the 
representatives  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  Great  Britain  had 
all  of  them  held  a  commission  of  the  American  Board.  Here,  then, 
were  three  of  our  men  who,  through  the  representatives  of  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  were  helping  to  shape  the  diplomacy  of 
the  world  at  one  of  the  most  important  world  capitals.  One  of 
these  ambassadors  has  been  known  again  and  again  to  send  for  one 
of  our  missionaries  to  advise  with  him  upon  important  state  matters, 
once  even  summoning  him  in  the  middle  of  the  night  because  of  the 
gravity  of  the  question  that  had  to  be  considered  on  the  morrow. 
Different  officials  in  our  State  Department  have  also  spoken  of  their 
obligations  to  our  missionaries  for  information.  It  is  easy  to  see  how 
this  may  be.  The  minister  or  the  consul  is  subject  to  change  every 
few  years,  and  often  he  does  not  know  the  language  of  the  country 
to  which  he  is  accredited.  The  missionary,  on  the  contrary,  lives 
on  in  the  same  community  twenty,  thirty,  and  sometimes  forty  years. 
He  knows  the  people,  their  language,  their  modes  of  thought,  their 
traditions,  their  history.  He  has  a  mass  of  information  of  inestimable 
value  that  he  can  communicate  to  any  government  official. 

We  have  time  for  only  one  more  illustration,  and  it  is  found  in 
the  story  of  the  new  Chinese  Republic.  There  was  great  danger  of 
war  between  the  North  and  the  South,  which,  if  it  had  started,  might 
have  involved  the  peace  of  the  world.  Edward  S.  Little,  a  former 
missionary,  now  a  business  man  and  the  honorary  treasurer  of  the 
United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  of  China,  came  to  the  front 
as  peacemaker.  He  sent  a  proposal  to  Yuan  Shi  Kai  and  to  Dr. 
Sun  Yat  Sen,  the  president  of  the  Provisional  Republic,  suggesting 
that  they  appoint  a  commissioner  to  consider  terms  of  peace,  with 
the  further  offer  of  his  own  home  at  Shanghai  as  a  place  for  holding 
this  peace  conference.  The  plan  was  approved,  and  two  commis¬ 
sioners  were  appointed.  The  home  of  Mr.  Little  was  given  up  for 
this  purpose  for  six  weeks,  he  serving  often  as  “middleman,”  ac¬ 
cording  to  Chinese  custom  in  harmonizing  differences.  The  wonderful 


14 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


success  of  these  commissioners  was  the  saving  of  China  from  a 
bloody  conflict.  Let  us  not  forget  that  much  of  this  success  was 
due  to  this  Christian  business  man,  a  former  missionary,  who  by  his 
years  of  faithful  service  in  missionary  and  philanthropic  enterprises 
had  won  for  himself  universal  confidence. 

Furthermore,  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  it  was  because  Dr.  Sun 
and  so  many  of  his  compatriots  were  trained  in  our  missionary  schools 
and  had  come  under  the  Christian  influences  of  the  West  that  the 
success  of  this  wonderful  movement  for  better  government  was 
made  possible. 

The  nations  are  beginning  to  realize  more  and  more  what  they 
owe  to  the  missionaries.  A  Chinese  leader  was  asked  “when  the 
recent  revolution  began/’  and  with  great  wisdom  he  replied,  “The 
day  Robert  Morrison  landed  in  Canton.”  We  must  not  forget  the 
forward  look  in  this  summary.  There  are  in  the  Protestant  mission¬ 
ary  schools  of  the  East  nearly  1,300,000  students  of  all  grades  under 
missionary  training.  In  these  schools  are  being  shaped  the  future 
leaders  of  every  nation.  The  work  done  by  our  missionary  teachers 
in  training  Chinese  students  has  been  one  of  the  largest  factors  in 
helping  to  bind  China  to  us.  What  is  true  in  China  is  true  else¬ 
where,  and  is  to  become  more  and  more  true  as  the  schools  for  Chris¬ 
tian  education  are  being  rapidly  increased.  It  is  these  students  of 
to-day,  the  leaders  of  to-morrow,  that  are  to  bind  this  world  together. 

There  would  have  been  no  new  China  or  Korea  or  India  or  Turkey 
if  there  had  been  no  missionaries,  and  the  diplomacy  of  the  world 
would  have  been  powerless  without  their  aid.  Western  civilization, 
with  its  accompanying  evils,  is  everywhere  crowding  into  the  East: 
it  is  the  Christian  missionary,  educator  and  physician,  that  serves 
as  the  antidote  to  all  these  evils  and  shows  what  Christianity  is. 
It  is  the  missionary  who  has  been  the  peacemaker,  and  it  is  his 
influence  that  is  making  possible  a  closer  oneness  between  the  nations. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  A  WORLD  POWER. 

In  this  struggle  for  world  peace  our  missionaries  have  a  great 
asset  in  the  influence  of  the  United  States  as  a  world  power.  We 
sometimes  talk  as  if  this  began  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  War.  That 
is  not  really  true.  In  the  eyes  of  the  world  it  may  seem  so  because 
the  nation  then  became  more  conspicuous,  but  we  have  always  been 
a  world  power  because  we  have  usually  stood  for  righteousness  and 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


15 

for  the  rule  of  the  people.  The  history  of  the  world  since  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  our  nation  is  the  proof  of  this.  Look  at  South  America 
and  the  British  colonies;  look  even  at  Great  Britain  herself,  as  she 
has  moved  so  steadily  forward  along  the  line  of  democratic  ideas; 
look  at  Japan  and  Turkey  and  China,  and  see  how  we  have  influenced 
other  nations  in  the  direction  of  democracy. 

A  GREATER  WORLD  AND  MISSIONARY  POWER. 

We  have  thus  seen  that  the  American  missionary  for  the  last  fifty 
years  has  been  the  greatest  power  in  bringing  the  nations  of  the  Near 
East  and  the  Far  East  into  closer  touch  with  the  nations  of  the  West. 

We  have  also  seen  that  the  influence  of  ail  missionaries  is  being 
seriously  hindered  by  the  so-called  “ armed  peace”  of  Europe  and  by 
the  increasing  expenditure  of  these  nations  in  preparation  for  war. 
This  evil  and  hindrance  seems  to  be  increasing  every  year  as  the  na¬ 
tions  are  struggling  to  increase  the  strength  of  their  armies  and 
the  size  of  their  navies.  I  think  it  is  also  evident  that  the  United 
States,  from  its  position,  its  history  and  its  freedom  from  alliances 
with  other  nations,  is  the  most  powerful  single  missionary  unit  in 
the  world. 

Facing  now  the  future,  it  is  vital,  therefore,  for  our  missionary 
influence  that  the  touch  and  impact  of  the  United  States  upon  the 
Orient  shall  be  more  and  more  Christianized.  I  believe  it  is  true 
that,  if  our  nation  would  take  a  stronger  position  in  its  moral  leader¬ 
ship  along  the  lines  of  arbitration  and  world  peace,  the  power  of  every 
American  missionary  would  be  doubled.  Only  a  few  idealists  cared 
for  these  things  at  first.  Not  until  our  generation  has  it  really  taken 
hold  of  the  people  as  a  whole.  It  is  becoming  now  a  part  of  the  great 
missionary  and  philanthropic  movement  of  our  day.  God  has  made 
of  one  blood  all  the  nations  of  the  earth ;  every  man  is  a  brother  of 
every  other  man, — all  have  been  made  alike  in  God’s  image.  Every 
human  being  has  infinite  possibilities,  be  he  black  or  brown  or  red. 
Modern  missions  have  shown  that  people  in  no  country  are  so  de¬ 
graded  that  they  cannot  be  saved.  The  cannibal  of  yesterday  can 
become  the  Christian  leader  of  to-morrow.  The  world  is  beginning 
to  see,  and  our  missionary  interests  must  take  part  in  declaring, 
that  men  must  no  longer  be  slaughtered,  that  duels  between  nations 
must  cease,  for  they  are  both  inhuman  and  unchristian.  When  the 
world  Powers  are  burdened  to  the  breaking  point  by  preparations 


16  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 

for  war,  and  all  our  missionary  interests  are  hindered  and  in  part 
neutralized  by  the  warlike  plans  of  all  Christian  nations,  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Board  and  the  churches  whose  servant  it  is  should  bring  their 
influence  to  bear  upon  international  life  in  the  movement  toward 
world- wide  peace. 

Our  nation  will  attain  its  truest  grandeur  if  it  will  aid  our  mis¬ 
sionary  interests  by  assuming  more  strongly  than  ever  a  moral  leader¬ 
ship  in  behalf  of  justice  and  righteousness  and  fair  dealing  in  all 
the  world.  We  ought  to  try  to  make  every  nation  feel  that  other 
nations  are  their  friends,  and  not  their  enemies,  and  that  the  Ten 
Commandments  are  as  workable  and  as  important  between  nations 
as  between  individuals.  The  churches  of  the  Christian  world  are 
giving  money  by  the  millions  every  year  to  make  a  better  Orient. 
They  have  a  right  to  insist  that  their  work  shall  not  be  hindered 
and  sometimes  undone  by  the  wickedness  of  our  commercial  inter¬ 
ests,  the  selfishness  of  our  politics  or  the  grasping  of  the  territory 
of  a  weaker  by  a  stronger  nation.  The  Baroness  von  Suttner,  in 
an  address  in  the  First  Congregational  Church  in  San  Francisco 
a  few  weeks  ago,  said,  in  speaking  upon  international  peace,  that 
Americans  are  fifty  years  in  advance  of  Europe  ethically.  We  want 
the  United  States  and  its  statesmanship  to  be  “born  again ”  into 
a  still  larger  service  for  every  nation,  and  to  be  ready  for  any  program 
which  will  make  for  brotherhood  and  world  peace. 

FOUNDATIONS  LAID  FOR  INCREASED  POWER. 

The  foundations  for  this  were  laid  in  these  latter  days  by  Secretary 
Hay,  who  made  the  world  see  that  American  diplomacy  had  but  two 
controlling  maxims,  the  “Golden  Rule”  and  the  “open  door.”  The 
brilliant  tenures  of  office  of  Mr.  Hay  and  Mr.  Root  have  given  our 
nation  wonderful  prestige.  There  may  be  others  here  who  were 
present  in  1904  at  the  great  Universal  Peace  Congress  in  Boston. 
When  Secretary  Hay  spoke,  every  one  was  conscious  that,  figuratively, 
the  ears  of  the  governments  of  every  nation  in  the  world  were  listen¬ 
ing  at  the  telephone  to  hear  what  he  had  to  say, — the  whole  world 
was  his  audience.  In  a  similar  way,  when  President  Taft  made  his 
memorable  address  a  few  months  ago,  proposing  to  include  in  his 
pacts  for  international  arbitration  with  England  and  France  even 
questions  of  national  honor,  thus  going  farther  than  any  other 
great  statesman  had  ever  gone,  he  in  turn  caused  the  whole  world 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


17 


to  listen.  That  address  and  that  proposal  made  possible  a  won¬ 
derful  session  in  the  British  House  of  Commons,  and  the  impressive 
words  of  Sir  Edward  Grey  marked  the  occasion  as  one  of  the  most 
momentous  in  recent  years.  Certainly,  all  nations  should  be  in 
sympathy  with  the  “anti-conquest  resolution, ”  introduced  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  by  Congressman  McCall  of  Massachusetts. 
This  resolution  authorizes  the  President  to  instruct  the  delegates 
of  the  United  States  to  the  next  Hague  Conference  and  the  Pan- 
American  Conference  to  express  to  these  bodies  the  desire  of  the 
United  States  “that  in  all  treaties  of  arbitration,  amity  and  peace 
to  be  negotiated  by  the  signatory  powers  in  the  future,  a  preamble 
be  inserted  by  which  the  powers  mutually  recognize  their  national 
independence,  territorial  integrity  and  absolute  sovereignty  in 
domestic  affairs,  and  that  they  will  not  seek  to  increase  their  terri¬ 
tories  by  conquest,  and  to  endeavor  to  secure  a  declaration  to  that 
effect  from  the  conferences.”  It  is  believed  that,  if  this  principle 
could  be  adopted  by  the  powers,  it  would  do  more  than  almost  any¬ 
thing  else  to  bring  about  a  limitation  and  reduction  of  armaments 
and  make  possible  conditions  of  universal  peace  and  a  permanent 
Court  of  Arbitral  Justice.  What  we  need  is  to  arouse  the  moral 
conscience  of  our  nation,  and  especially  our  great  missionary  interests 
to  support  more  strongly  these  utterances  and  efforts  of  our  great 
leaders. 

A  CLOSER  TOUCH  WITH  THE  ORIENT. 

Nothing  could  bring  us  into  closer  touch  with  the  Near  East  and 
the  Far  East  than  for  our  mission  boards  to  take  an  advanced  posi¬ 
tion  in  this  great  world-wide  movement.  Turkey,  chafing  under  the 
feeling  of  wrong  that  has  been  done  to  her  by  Italy,  is  in  a  mood 
to  enter  thoroughly  into  sympathy  with  such  a  plan.  China  has 
always  been  opposed  to  war.  Confucius  taught  her  people  that 
nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  should  settle  their  differences  by 
appeals  to  right  and  justice.  In  the  spirit  of  that  teaching  the 
soldier  has  for  generations  been  considered  inferior  to  the  farmer 
or  the  business  man.  After  Japan  was  opened  by  Commodore  Perry 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  West,  she  was  shocked  by  the  bloody  history 
of  the  Western  world.  One  of  their  great  moralists  begged  the 
Japanese  Government  for  the  privilege  of  going  on  a  mission  to 
the  West,  that  he  might  plead  with  these  nations  to  put  an  end  to 
bloody  wars  which  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  peace  had  made  so 


18  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 

distasteful  to  Japan.  Of  greater  importance  still  is  the  statement 
made  not  long  ago  at  Mohonk  by  Professor  Honda  that  “  Japan’s 
boundless  ambition,  whatever  her  mistakes  and  shortcomings,  is  to 
b'e  behind  no  other  nation  in  doing  the  right  thing  in  the  right  way.” 
The  present  vigorous  Japanese  Peace  Society,  with  some  of  the 
leaders  in  our  Kumiai  churches  as  officers,  and  the  American  Peace 
Society  of  Japan,  composed  of  resident  Americans,  show  how  strongly 
the  peace  idea  is  rooted  in  our  sister  nation. 

In  the  province  of  Manchuria  there  is  a  great  cemetery  which 
the  Japanese  have  consecrated  to  the  burial  of  the  Russians  who  died 
in  the  battles  in  that  vicinity.  When  the  Russian  army  retreated, 
they  left  thousands  unburied:  the  Japanese  army  collected  every 
bone  and  every  bit  of  uniform  and  every  broken  weapon  that  they 
found  upon  the  field  of  battle  and  buried  all  with  military  honors. 
The  graves  of  the  soldiers  have  been  marked  with  iron  crosses  in  the 
Greek  form,  and  those  of  the  officers  with  similar  crosses  of  white 
marble.  When  the  cemetery  was  dedicated,  Russian  ecclesiastics 
and  military  commanders  were  invited  to  share  in  the  ceremonies. 
It  has  been  well  pointed  out  that  it  was  fifty  years  after  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg  before  we  invited  our  brothers  in  the  South  to  meet  us 
where  they  fought  with  the  men  of  the  North,  there  to  thank  God 
together  for  a  united  country.  What  took  fifty  years  for  us  to  do, 
the  Japanese  have  done  in  five  years.  A  nation  that  can  forgive 
as  Japan  has  forgiven  and  show  it  in  this  beautiful  act  has  cer¬ 
tainly  caught  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  taught  us  a  lesson  to  which 
we  may  well  give  heed.  Well  may  we  call  the  men  of  such  a  nation 
our  brothers,  and  so  live  as  to  come  into  a  closer  bond  with  them 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

THE  GOOD  WILL  OF  OTHER  NATIONS. 

In  this  work  we  have  the  good  will  of  other  nations  as  one  of  our 
largest  assets.  We  are  so  situated  on  this  continent  with  the  great 
oceans  between  us  and  other  nations  that  we  can  easily  be  a  leader 
for  world  peace.  It  is  significant  that  at  a  recent  meeting  Sir  Edward 
Grey  told  Dr.  Mott  and  Mr.  McBee  that  it  was  possible  for  our 
nation  to  take  the  initiative  in  matters  like  these,  because  we  are 
free  from  all  entangling  alliances  and  therefore  our  motives  would 
not  be  questioned  or  our  suggestions  be  open  to  suspicion.  No  nation 
has  ever  had  such  an  opportunity  as  ours,  and  no  time  in  our  history 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


19 


has  been  so  propitious  for  pressing  this  great  question  as  the  present 
moment,  when  we  are  beginning  to  plan  for  the  great  celebration 
of  a  hundred  years  of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  and  when  the  program 
for  the  third  Hague  Conference  is  about  to  be  made  up. 

LIMITATION  OF  ARMAMENT. 

The  present  policy  of  great  military  and  naval  expenditures  by  the 
Christian  nations  is  a  travesty  on  our  Christianity.  When  Dr. 
David  Starr  Jordan  went  to  Japan  last  year  as  a  representative 
of  the  World  Peace  Foundation,  he  was  cordially  received  by  that 
nation.  But  it  was  significant  and  just  that  the  press  of  that  coun¬ 
try  should  criticize  the  conditions  which  prevailed  in  lands  which, 
while  holding  great  peace  congresses  and  sending  out  peace  workers, 
continue  to  increase  their  own  equipments  for  war.  It  is  all-im¬ 
portant  to  have  international  conferences  and  treaties,  but  I  believe 
that,  if  our  nation  would,  without  waiting  for  any  other,  take  the 
initiative  and  call  a  halt  in  our  great  expenditures  for  naval  armament, 
the  world  would  soon  follow  us.  We  are  strong  enough  to  do  what  is 
right.  Who  is  going  to  attack  us?  Not  England,  whom  we  love  to 
recognize  as  our  “ mother  country”;  not  France,  who  gave  us  Lafay¬ 
ette  and  other  leaders  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  who  has 
never  ceased  to  be  our  friend;  not  Germany — why  should  she  cut 
off  her  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  of  business  with  us,  her  best 
customer  across  the  sea,  and  threaten  revolution  within  from  her 
business,  manufacturing  and  labor  interests?  not  Japan,  whose 
people,  as  a  whole,  love  us  as  their  best  and  most  faithful  friend,  who 
know  also  that  they  could  not  safely  add  to  their  present  burdensome 
debt,  and  that  the  hour  of  conflict  with  us  would  be  the  hour  for 
Russia  to  recapture  Port  Arthur  and  Korea.  The  men  who  try 
to  stir  up  strife  between  our  nation  and  Japan  or  any  other  nation 
are  guilty  of  high  treason.  I  am  not  unfamiliar  with  the  argument 
that  an  increasingly  stronger  navy  is  an  assurance  of  peace.  But 
there  is  another  side  to  this;  namely,  the  temptation  there  is  to 
provoke  a  quarrel  in  order  to  use  these  ships.  Colonel  Gadke,  a 
German  military  officer  of  acknowledged  authority,  has  recently 
said,  “It  is  only  partly  true  that  armaments  are  the  insurance 
premiums  of  peace:  with  better  right  they  might  be  called  a  con¬ 
stant  menace  to  peace.”  Von  Moltke  many  years  ago  said  in  the 
Reichstag  that  it  is  mutual  distrust  which  keeps  the  nations  in  arms 


20 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


against  one  another.  Can  any  one  imagine  anything  that  will 
more  surely  create  distrust  than  to  be  continually  adding  battleship 
to  battleship?  Our  navy  kept  efficient  at  its  present  size  is  large 
enough  for  all  purposes  of  defense;  and  the  thought  of  anything 
besides  defense  in  connection  with  it  is  wicked. 

GREATNESS  IN  SERVICE. 

The  early  months  of  this  year  saw  a  great  series  of  meetings  all 
over  our  country  in  the  interests  of  the  Men  and  Religion  Forward 
Movement.  In  all  these  meetings,  emphasis  was  put  as  never  before 
upon  the  social  service  of  the  church.  We  have  come  to  a  new  day 
in  this  regard.  In  the  generations  preceding  ours  the  emphasis  was 
put  upon  the  individual  life,  and  the  thought  seemed  to  be  largely 
of  a  future  salvation.  But  to-day  we  are  recognizing  the  message 
of  Jesus  for  society  as  a  whole  and  for  the  world  of  to-day.  While 
never  forgetting  our  individual  responsibilities  to  God,  we  are  recog¬ 
nizing  now  that  our  churches  have  duties  to  society  and  to  all  the 
nations. 

Jesus  taught  that,  for  every  individual,  greatness  consists  in  service. 
What  is  true  of  the  individual  is  true  of  the  nation.  Nations  are 
spending  money  by  the  hundreds  of  millions  for  armies  and  navies 
in  the  belief  that  that  is  making  them  great.  Let  the  United  States 
teach  the  world  that  it  is  the  soul,  the  heart,  the  purpose,  the  ideal 
of  a  nation  as  of  an  individual  that  makes  it  great.  Wars,  as  a  rule, 
do  not  decide  moral  questions:  they  only  decide  which  nation  is 
physically  stronger.  That  which  will  make  this  nation  really  great 
is  service  to  every  nation.  How  shall  we  serve?  By  increasing  our 
navy  and  thereby  saying  to  the  world  that  armies  and  navies  are 
power?  No,  brute  force  is  not  the  greatest  power:  the  mightiest 
power  in  the  world  to-day  is  not  force,  nor  ambition,  nor  fear,  but  love. 
Write  it  large,  Love;  and  the  mightiest  expression  of  that  love  was 
on  the  Cross.  The  United  States  will  do  its  largest  service  for  the 
nations  by  showing  its  love  and  good  will,  and  by  taking  the  leader¬ 
ship  in  bringing  the  nations  to  mutual  confidence  and  trust  and  love 
each  to  the  other.  The  present  effort  for  a  permanent  arbitral 
court  and  for  world  peace  is  an  effort  to  make  our  Christianity  prac¬ 
tical  to  every  nation.  What  is  the  use  to  preach  the  angel  song 
of  “good  will,”  unless  we  cease  our  preparations  for  war?  Mr. 
Beecher  used  to  tell  of  men  who  “prayed  cream  and  lived  skim  milk.” 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


21 


That  is  what  the  Christian  nations  in  large  measure  are  doing  to-day. 
Service  then,  I  repeat,  for  the  whole  world  by  the  mighty  power  of  love 
should  be  the  mission  of  our  nation.  When  we  prove  this  more  and 
more  by  our  national  policies,  then  will  every  missionary  of  this 
Board  and  of  every  Board  have  his  power  and  influence  doubled, 
barriers  and  partitions  will  be  removed,  and  we  shall  hasten  the  ful¬ 
filment  of  the  angel  song  of  nineteen  centuries  ago,  “  Peace  on  earth, 
good  will  to  men,”  by  making  it  a  present  reality. 

THREE  GREAT  WORLD  MOVEMENTS. 

We  have  come  to  a  critical  hour  in  the  world’s  history.  Let  me 
speak  of  three  of  the  great  world  movements  which  promise  much 
in  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  first  is  looking 
toward  the  closer  union  of  the  various  branches  of  the  Christian 
Church,  the  outlook  for  which  has  never  been  so  bright  as  at  the 
present  time.  The  union  of  work  in  the  foreign  field  is  shoving 
what  is  possible  here  at  home.  A  united  church  which  would  strike 
a  common  blow  everywhere  for  Christ  and  humanity  would  double 
the  present  power  of  the  church,  divided  as  it  now  is. 

The  second  movement  is  that  of  the  Continuation  Committee  of 
the  Edinburgh  Conference,  winch  is  making  a  scientific  study  of  the 
whole  mission  field,  not  only  to  see  how  the  position  of  the  present 
forces  may  be  better  adjusted,  but  also  to  ascertain  what  forces  of 
men  and  money  are  needed  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the  unoccupied 
fields  to  the  millions  who  have  not  yet  heard  of  Jesus  Christ.  There 
is  a  growing  feeling  that  the  churches’  gifts  of  money  and  life  are 
pitiably  small  in  proportion  to  the  greatness  of  our  wealth  and  of 
our  opportunity.  It  is  hoped  that,  when  this  committee  reports, 
it  will  submit  a  plan  large  enough  to  lead  to  the  putting  up  of  the 
money  and  the  putting  in  of  the  men  that  shall  make  possible  the 
planting  of  the  cross  of  Christ  everywhere  in  this  generation,  and 
thus  conquer  the  world  for  him.  This  is  to  be  the  challenge  to  our 
united  churches. 

But  back  of  these  and  before  these  and  as  a  basis  of  these  there  is 
a  third  movement.  That  there  may  be  a  united  church,  and  that 
there  may  be  this  oneness  of  operation,  we  need  first  to  remove  all 
national  hatreds  and  jealousies  by  a  plan  that  will  provide  for 
the  settlement  of  every  international  dispute  by  arbitration,  in¬ 
cluding  those  so-called  questions  of  “national  honor,”  to  the  end 


22 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


that  great  standing  armies  and  navies  may  be  abolished,  except  to 
the  extent  that  they  may  be  necessary  for  police  service.  Every 
missionary  enterprise  in  the  world  will  halt  and  hesitate  till  this  is 
done. 

One  of  two  things  will  happen  at  an  early  day.  The  crushing 
debts  of  the  nations  will  lead  to  bankruptcy  and  disaster  and  panic 
such  as  the  world  has  never  known,  or  a  great  war  will  come  which, 
because  of  its  awful  slaughter  and  expense,  will  in  like  manner  im¬ 
poverish  the  nations.  In  either  case  the  incomes  of  all  missionary 
organizations,  home  and  foreign  alike,  would  be  so  impaired  that 
not  only  would  all  advance  cease,  but  it  might  even  be  necessary 
to  call  home  men  at  the  front.  A  retreat  instead  of  an  advance — what 
a  fearful  object-lesson  to  the  non-Christian  nations!  It  is  right  for 
us  to  go  on  urging  an  increase  in  gifts  of  money  and  of  life  on  a  far 
larger  scale  than  ever  before,  but  at  the  same  time  we  must  not  be 
blind  to  the  awful  peril  that  confronts  every  missionary  interest 
to-day.  A  friend  abroad  this  summer  has  been  sending  me  quota¬ 
tions  from  the  newspapers  published  there  in  smaller  places,  and 
they  are  full  of  words  looking  to  a  coming  war.  I  have  been 
reading,  also,  extracts  from  the  debates  in  the  House  of  Commons 
and  in  the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies.  Some  plan  must  be  speedily 
consummated  to  relieve  the  burdens  and  tensions  which  are  growing 
so  rapidly  among  the  nations,  for  the  strain  is  too  great  to  be  endured 
for  very  long.  We  shall  be  false  to  the  missionary  interest  we  hold 
in  trust — yea,  more,  we  shall  be  false  to  him  who  is  the  Prince  of 
Peace — unless  we  are  more  earnest  and  determined  in  this  matter. 

It  is  a  great  time  to  live,  and  these  are  great  things  for  us  to 
work  for  together.  In  hearty  accord  with  the  Christian  forces  of 
Great  Britain  and  Germany  and  of  every  other  nation,  let  us  strive 
for  the  moral  leadership  of  the  world  along  the  lines  of  universal 
peace  and  brotherhood.  Then  we  shall  be  the  better  able  to  give 
effectively  the  glad  news  of  our  Christ  to  every  one,  everywhere. 
And  we  can  have  a  great  ally  at  once  in  the  Far  East.  The  new  Em¬ 
peror  of  Japan,  following  the  long-established  custom  of  that  nation, 
has  chosen  the  single  word  “  righteousness  ”  as  the  motto  of  his 
reign.  It  is  a  happy  providence  that  his  name  translated  into  Eng¬ 
lish  is  “ Enlightened  Peace.”  He  recognizes  in  this  noble  act,  what 
so  many  leaders  of  his  people  have  felt,  that  Japan  now  needs  to 
lay  the  emphasis  upon  high  moral  character,  that  she  may  be  increas¬ 
ingly  a  world  power  among  the  nations.  Let  the  United  States  and 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  PEACE 


23 


Japan  clasp  hands  over  the  ocean  with  the  noble  purpose  of  making 
our  combined  influence  tell  mightily  for  righteousness  and  peace 
around  the  world.  The  federation  of  the  world  for  God  and  human¬ 
ity,  let  this  be  the  ambition,  the  purpose,  the  prayer  of  every  patriot; 
and  of  every  Christian. 


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